ArticleBMC public health2025
Hearing loss and cognitive impairment among older adults: findings from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Hearing Loss in Adults With Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Rimegepant for vestibular and cochlear symptoms associated with vertigo in a real-world retrospective study.iScience · 2026Article
- Hearing Loss, Cognitive Decline, and Dementia: Clinical Intersections.Audiology research · 2026Review
- The cognitive cost of age-related hearing loss.BMC geriatrics · 2026Observational
- [Current status and future perspectives on age-related hearing loss and cognitive impairment].Lin chuang er bi yan hou tou jing wai ke za zhi = Journal of clinical otorhinolaryngology head and neck surgery · 2026Review
- Hearing impairment and depression in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: the potential intermediary role of sleep duration in the CHARLS cohort.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Associations of combined hearing loss and depression with cognitive impairment among older adults: a sex difference analysis based on evidence from CHARLS.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Healthy aging among community-dwelling older adults aged ≥60 years in China: results from a 2023 cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundWith the rapid aging of populations, dementia has become a major health problem. Hearing loss is common among older adults and has been recognized as a contributing factor to cognitive impairment and dementia. We aimed to explore the association between hearing loss and cognitive impairment in older adults. We also sought to quantify the extent to which the impact of hearing loss on cognitive impairment could be mediated by depression and social isolation.
methodsWe used nationally representative data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a population-based cohort study. The study population comprised adults aged 60 and older who participated in at least two waves of the CHARLS. Cognitive function was measured based on four dimensions: orientation, computation, memory, and drawing. Hearing loss was defined according to self-reported data. We used logistic regression models to analyze the cross-sectional association between hearing loss and cognitive impairment. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the longitudinal association between hearing loss and cognitive impairment. We also conducted an in-depth analysis of the severity of hearing loss and its associated risk of cognitive impairment. Additionally, we calculated the percentage of excess risk mediated (PERM) by depression and social isolation.
findingsIn total, 7891 individuals were included in the cross-sectional analysis, and 5326 were included in the longitudinal analysis, with a mean follow-up of 6.38 years. In the cross-sectional analysis, hearing loss was associated with cognitive impairment after adjusting for all covariates (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.49-2.08). In the longitudinal analysis, the hazard ratio for cognitive impairment with hearing loss compared with no hearing loss was 1.24 (95% CI: 1.06-1.46) after adjustment for demographics, socioeconomic factors, and health-related behaviors. Further analysis revealed that moderate or severe hearing loss had a strong relationship with cognitive impairment after adjusting for covariates (HR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.07-1.62). Of the total association between hearing loss and cognitive impairment, 20.83% was mediated by depression and 4.17% by social isolation.
conclusionsHearing loss is independently associated with cognitive impairment, providing evidence that addressing hearing loss could help improve cognitive function.
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